ERIE, Pa. — First year attacker Charles Jacoby (Reading, Pa.) netted five goals to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's water polo team to a 16-13 victory over Washington & Jefferson College for the first win in program history this afternoon in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation season opener at the Junker Center at host Pennsylvania State University Behrend in Erie, Pa.
The Lyons improve to 1-10 overall and 1-0 in MPSF play, while the Presidents fall to 1-7 and 0-1.
Wheaton owned a 36-34 shot advantage.
Jacoby added five draw exclusions for the Lyons, while sophomore utility player Spyros Rapsomanikis (Kerkyra, Greece) tallied three goals, an assist, one drawn exclusion, one steal and a field block. Sophomore two-meter Michael Ruemelin (Chicago, Ill.) scored twice and added a pair of assists for four points and first year attacker Hudson Kosiba (Birmingham, Mich.) netted a pair of goals and assisted on another. First year goalie Nic Boyer (Toledo, Ohio) registered a school-record 18 saves in the win.
Sophomore utility player Hector Santaella (Key Biscayne, Fla.) led Washington & Jefferson with four points, including three goals and an assist to go with three steals, while junior utility player Dillon Parker (Nipomo, Calif.) scored a pair of goals in addition to two assists, a steal and a drawn exclusion. First year attacker Ciro Pro (Chicago, Ill.) contributed with three goals and two steals. First year goalie Layne Evans (Houston, Texas) made 12 saves.
Santaella tallied a pair of goals to pace the Presidents to their only lead of the day at 3-2 with 5:05 left in the opening quarter. Wheaton ripped off five of the next six points to take the lead for good at 7-4 with 4:06 showing in the second quarter, behind two scores from Jacoby. Santaella tallied a pair of goals to help Washington & Jefferson cut the deficit to 8-6 with 99 seconds left in the first half. The Lyons netted the final two markers of the quarter, including a goal from Jacoby, to give Wheaton a 10-6 margin at halftime.
The Lyons roared out of the gate with three of the first four goals to start the third quarter, including two from sophomore Josh Vander Wagen (Brookfield, Ill.), to increase their cushion to 13-7. The Presidents battled back with four unanswered goals, paced by a pair of markers from Pro, to pull within 13-11 to close out the quarter.
The teams traded goals in the fourth with first year attacker Bray Turner (Forney, Texas) scoring the game's final goal to secure the three-goal win for Wheaton.
The Lyons return to the pool to take on No. 10 Augustana College today at 7:00 p.m. in Erie, while Washington & Jefferson plays Connecticut College at 3:50 p.m.
